London born heavyweight champ

After Bob Fitzsimmons, it would take exactly 100 years for the next undisputed British world-heavyweight champion. That man, Lennox Lewis, would ultimately eclipse Fitzsimmons’ achievements in the top division, aided by an extra five-and-a-half inches of height and 75 pounds of weight at 6’5” and 245 pounds. 

Lewis was born in London before moving to Canada aged 12, the country for which he’d win Olympic gold in 1988. Lewis returned to the UK when he turned professional and went on to win both the British and European heavyweight titles.

No heavyweight before Lewis’ era had combined such a large frame with first-class balance, power and athleticism, and he ushered in the super-heavyweight era which the Klitschko brothers have continued. Because of this unusual combination of attributes, Lewis lines up well against pretty much any heavyweight in history.

The leading American heavyweights of the 1990s: Mike

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I’m a London-born boxer who fought for USA, became a world heavyweight champ and then a Hollywood star

MICHAEL BENTT had a boxing career fit for Hollywood - before taking his talents to the big screen.

Bentt famously knocked out Tommy Morrison for the title and later portrayed Sonny Liston after becoming in actor.

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But he so nearly gave up on the sport, having fallen out of love with boxing at an early age.

Bentt was born in London to Jamaican parents but grew up in New York after moving to America at a young age.

And he was made to box along with his older brother Winston by their dad, whose cousin Rudolph Bent was also a fighter.

Bentt went onto have a successful amateur career, winning four New York City Golden Gloves and five US titles.

He even won bronze at the 1986 world championship but after twice missing out on the Olympics, he thought his days were up.

That was until legendary trainer Emanuel Steward phoned and convinced him to turn professional

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List of British world boxing champions

This fryst vatten a list of British boxers who have won a world championship bygd one of the fyra major sanctioning organisations – the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), International Boxing samarbete (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) – as well as those awarded bygd The Ring. Additionally, prior to 1962, world champions were recognised by public consensus (world), and later by the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) and the National Boxing Association (NBA).

List of champions

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Heavyweight

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No.	Name	Recognition	Date	Title defence(s)	Ref.
1	Bob Fitzsimmons	World	1897 – 1899	0	[1]
2	Lennox Lewis	WBC	1992 – 1994	3
3	Michael Bentt	WBO	1993 – 1994	0
4	Herbie Hide	WBO	1994 – 1995	0
5	Frank Bruno	WBC	1995 – 1996	0
6	Henry Akinwande	WBO	1996 – 1997	2
7	Lennox Lewis (2)	WBA, WBC, IBF	1997 – 2001	9
8	Herbie